Longing……For……For……For……

Why look into Gordon Matta-Clark’s filming process for his art works?

Well.. I thought it was interesting to see exactly how Matta-Clark documents every detail of his processes of making his monstrous building sculptures. His use of photography and filming his processes does seems quite a big deal to Matta-Clark. He almost treats his process like some action movie like something out of a godzilla and seeing rubble fall from the crumbling old buildings inside and outside.

Every detail of filming that Matta-Clark creates is like seeing a story in a book where you are there seeing everything happen and you know how much work had been involved in making his work. I guess it was a great way to document the conversion of the buildings because I think it was his way of saving his art work on film when he knows that its gonna be destroyed a few months later.

Anchoring memory trace within his work?

This method of filming your process can also give you a clear outlook of anchoring the memories of sound, movement and images of your work. The elements of sound and movement in filming play a key role in Matta-Clark’s Conical Intersect and Splitting. Every movement within the hammering and sawing in Matta-Clark’s arm is a result in the indexical movement that acts as a memory trace of him making his work. saving his work on filming was also his way of anchoring the memories of his art work that could no longer be viewed by the public.

Theorist Rosalind Epstein Krauss explains movement taking on the role of the index.

“Movement ceases to function symbolically and takes on the character of an index. By index I mean that type of sign which arises as the physical manifestation of a cause of which traces, imprints and clues are examples.” (Krauss. 1977. P59).

How does Gordon Matta-Clark relate to making my Process in my art work?

I wanted to look into Gordon Matta-clark’s ideas of how he uses filming as part of the making of his art works. The reason why I did this is because I am very interested in capturing my art ideas and process of my own art work. Even though I know that I can keep my art work and is not gonna be destroyed like Matta-Clarks work, I still like to capture that event of my success in printing or making anything else.

Anchoring a memory trace within my process of making art work?

I would say I pretty much love capturing the memories of my discoveries that I have made within the process of my work, that mistake that turned my art around and that fine detail of how I make things. I feel that writing does not always tell the full story of my process because all you see is black and white. I like to also capture the other colours by filming and taking photos of my process that tells the full story like something out of a book or a  movie coming to life.

All these things I like to capture anchor a memory trace of my actions in working and also the discoveries that I have made within my work. To me, this is a good way of seeing how I make thing and give me something to think about when it comes to progress and improving myself to be better than the guy I use to be.

Is the signs of memory trace found within Cornelia Parker’s objects?

Cornelia Parker talks about memories that are found in objects that hold crucial memorable evidence of what life the object has lived through. Parker has acquired a lot of different and forgotten objects from antique stores and from her friends which are cups, pots, pans and even musical instruments.

most of these objects that she acquired were made from silver and other metals because she had a desire to flatten them by using a steam roller or by throwing them off the white cliffs of dover. She done this because whatever memory trace that were held inside of these objects, Parker wanted to resurrect them into a new meaning to create an artwork out of them. It was important for Parker to come by objects that held a memory trace within the tarnished surfaces that would make her work more understandable and meaningful.

Lisa Tickner Interviews Cornelia Parker about ‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ and she explains about the tarnish traces on the objects;

“Tarnish is one of those things that do not have a value, that people don’t want and find ugly to look at, and so as a material I find it fascinating. It’s somehow like the Turin Shroud: you’ve got this trace, or you’ve taken away this surface, this thing you don’t want, and then you present the tarnish as almost the soul of the object”. (Tickner. 2003. P375)

How Does Cornelia Parker relate to my Vase Readymade objects?

I feel that Cornelia Parker relates very much to my vase Readymades because the vases that I use, hold a record of memories from its previous owners. My Readymade sculpture of vases hold the memory traces of the old couple who originally lived inside the apartment, telling the story of the old couples lives. What was left behind was nothing at all but two vases resembling the old couple that once occupied the apartment and these vases stand in as the remains of the old couple.

Is memory trace found within the surfaces of Rachel Whiteread’s objects?

Rachel Whiteread is a sculpture who uses objects and surfaces that contain an historical past to them. Whiteread used plaster, rubber and resin materials to make her casts from everyday domesticated objects. These objects were bought most of the time just like Cornelia Parker and some of her famously known objects that she casted were her bed mattresses. One of Whiteread’s examples of Mattresses were Shallow Breath (1988) which show early examples of Whiteread’s fascination with indexical traces.

Shallow Breath signifies a momentum in Whiteread’s past where the idea of the death bed was from the documentary that she watched as a child and is combined with her father’s heart condition that makes Shallow Breath the work it is today. These experiences in Whiteread’s past life capture memory traces that she tries to interpret into her own bed works.

How does Rachel Whiteread relate to my vase Readymade objects?

Well.. Rachel Whiteread does relate to my work in a sense that the objects that Whiteread used had been found from all sorts of rundown places and converted these objects into an artwork. The vase objects that I found in this apartment were forgotten and left behind with a memorable record attached to them of the old couple that once occupied the place.

Whiteread’s objects very much tell a similar story to my work where her bed mattresses give the direct traces of the people that have slept on them. The example of her mattress play a similar role with my vase Readymades and give the signs of memory traces that resemble the people that once lived around these objects. The surfaces and the dust trapped inside the vases have been built up over the years which would hold crucial memorable evidence of someone’s pre-existence. These are memory traces.

Why did I look into Marcel Duchamp’s Readymades?

I looked into artist Marcel Duchamp for my readymade vases because he is widely known for his use of readymade sculptures like the bicycle wheels and the wine rack. Some of these objects that he had acquired were bought from shops or found as spare parts and used them into his readymade sculpture works. I thought that seeing the way he finds objects and using them into his art has made me compare his work with my own.

How does Marcel Duchamp relate to my Readymade vase work?

Duchamp’s work relates very much to my readymade work of vases because they are objects that have not been distorted in any kind of fashion and just stand in as an Readymade object. Marcel Duchamp carries the very same concept within my work where his work are Readymades and may also carry the signs of memory traces from the surfaces of the objects that he uses.

The story behind my vases

When I was in China last summer 05/07/2014 I had to help my girlfriends friend Ting Ting to renovate an old apartment into something new again. When I got to the apartment with my girlfriend there were no belongings or any furnitures left apart from just two small artifacts which were the two vases. These vase were a couple like the same as each other but still seem a bit different to me and they directly stared me in the face as if to say that these stand in as the old couple who once lived here in this apartment.

Memory Trace behind these vases?

whatever the old couple had to go through in their lives is recorded in these vases and its like these vases are acting as their soul and in which they left behind within the surfaces of these vases. I just had to have them and use these nice looking vases as part of my art work and luckily Ting Ting said I could keep them. These hold crucial evidence of the lifestyle that the old couple once have and is left behind within these vases, also the smell  and the scratches left imbedded on these objects give the signs of the old couple.

I was more than happy to treat these couple vases as a Readymade with the remains of the old couple who departs, leaving their memorable moments left behind in these vases. these vases also tell me that no matter what we say or what we go through in life it all boils down to us being the same human beings just like the vases being the same but slightly different.

Week one recap with Dale Devereux Barker

Ok so last week on thursday 12/03/2015 I met up with artist Dale Devereux Barker who showed me away to print my vase stencils more efficiently and successfully. I had made a video previously of the makings of them vase techniques that he showed me and proved to be as successful more than I could possibly imagine. I also done some research about Dale Barker and his use of printing methods in vases and plants.

Week two – pattern experimenting with my vase stencils 

Right so this Thursday 19/03/2015 I managed to meet up with Dale Devereux Barker again to discuss ways into making my vase prints look more detailed and by using more colour. By doing this he mentioned from last weeks session that it would be possible to draw on the silkscreen to make other patterns and shapes to go underneath my vase stencil silkscreen.

By doing this methods I decided to record a video of him showing me how to do it so that i can remember better on how to do these different techniques in creating patterns for my vases.

What has Dale Barker’s session taught me?

Well it has indeed taught me of different ways to make my own personal patterns with the making of my vase stencils and has enabled me to make more unique vase designs. it has also taught me to make patterns using different colours in a very simple way without the need of making extra silkscreens and with a less time consuming ability.

what I mean by a ‘less time consuming ability’ is that normally you would need more silkscreens to make these patterns and also take time to wash them and to wait for each process to dry. dale Barker has shown me much simpler ways to making my vase prints look more unique and different from each other by using the one silkscreen. I may use these techniques in some of my future vase prints.

Next plan of action?

Ok so next Thursday 26/03/2015 dale barker will show me how to blend some colours from dark to light to help make the main colour of my vases look more real. he will show me ways to try make the vases look like the light is shining on them. So it sounds like an interesting week coming up and with any luck I can define my vase prints a lot more with the help of dale barker and Will keep you updated.